PRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24022, 10 August 1943, Page 4

PRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES

* USE OF HOME GARDENS URGED BIG COMMITMENTS FOR ARMED FORCES (P.A.) WELLINGTON, August 9. By growing the greatest possible supply of vegetables in their home gardens, people could help in one more way to contribute to and to speed the day of victory, said the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) in a “dig for victory campaign’’ broadcast to-night. Mr Fraser recalled that at the outbreak of war New Zealand pledged itself to supply Britain with the greatest quantity of food it could spare, and said that in the first three years of the war the Dominion shipped to the Mother Country 1,660,000 tons of butter, cheese, and meat—a wonderful achievement in production by New Zealand’s primary producers on farms. When America entered the war New Zealand undertook another great responsibility, to feed as far as its resources would allow the forces assembled in the south Pacific. One of the splendid achievements of the Dominion had been its record in the production of food for the war effort. Today the demands upon the Dominion were even greater, and the country was challenged to work with even greater energy. In the coming year New Zealand had undertaken to supply almost twice as much food to the Pacific area as previously. To meet these needs, the Government had established thousands of acres of vegetable farms, but even the output from these, combined with that of market gardens, would not meet the present requirements. It therefore behoved all citizens to help alleviate the position and support the “dig for victory campaign.’’